As US president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, The Banker has examined the attractiveness of the superpower’s financial centres in terms of both inward financial services foreign direct investment (FDI) and outflows to the rest of the world. Figures exclude inter-state investments and are based on estimates by greenfield investment monitor fDi Intelligence.
New York City comfortably leads all tables, but of note is the big difference between its attractiveness to foreign investors and its ability to generate international flows.
Total FDI into the city between October 2015 and September 2016 is a small fraction of what New York-based firms invested abroad: $214m compared with $1.47bn. The same is true for the same period in the previous year, with $178.4m-worth of inflows compared with outflows of $1.28bn.
Phoenix rising
Less known as a financial centre, Phoenix, which ranks second in the most recent inward table, has attracted a total of $95.5m. This is thanks to Zurich Insurance and BNP Paribas-owned Bank of the West setting up offices there.
On the outward 2016 table, second-placed Boston trails New York with $409.1m and five projects, in India, South Korea, Brazil, Israel and Denmark. Third-placed Chicago has invested in India and South Korea too. Its firms invested a total of $342.8m.
Drastic regulatory changes may of course alter IFCs’ appeal in the future as new leadership is appointed at key US policy-making bodies.